Lidya Tewelde Habtay

Lidya is a legal scholar from Eritrea who has been living as a refugee in Ethiopia. She holds an LL.B. from Adi-Keih College of Arts and Social Sciences in Eritrea. She is pursuing an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in the Department of International Development at the University of Oxford as a Mastercard Foundation AfOx Scholar at Linacre College.

Before coming to Oxford, Lidya served as an Assistant Execution Officer and Judicial Assistant. She has also been a research assistant on a project evaluating Refugee-Led Organisations (RLOs) in Africa and the Middle East. This project was led by LEERN at Carleton University and RSC at the University of Oxford. In addition, Lidya also worked as a PILnet-RLRH legal fellow at PILnet. She was involved in PILnet's Refugee Rights Pro Bono work, including the Refugee Clearinghouse and research on the legal needs of Refugee-Led Organisations (RLOs), and PILnet's mobilisation of the legal community to support the meaningful refugee participation agenda.

Lidya plans to approach her MSc from both legal and political perspectives. She aims to build upon her undergraduate studies by applying her understanding of law in the protection of refugees and other displaced individuals. She will also examine how domestic and international processes shape the behaviour and responses of states.

Upon completing her MSc, Lidya intends to collaborate with NGOs and other organisations before pursuing doctoral studies. Her goal is to combine her lived experience of displacement with her academic and professional expertise to create sound legal and political environments. She will focus on advocating for the rights of refugees and RLOs, particularly in the Horn of Africa region.